Press Trust of India
New Delhi, June 16: A substantial number of fraudsters in the country is high performers who are primarily driven by greed to commit corporate misdoings, says a report. Leading consultancy KPMG International also said 62 per cent of the frauds in India were committed in collusion, similar to global trends. “In India, greed is the predominant motivation for 77 per cent of fraudsters compared with 60 per cent globally,” it said.
With respect to India, KPMG said 59 per cent of fraudsters were detected as a result of a tip, complaint or a formal whistle blowing hotline while around 25 per cent were detected as a result of a management review. Mritunjay Kapur, Partner and Head (Risk Consulting) at KPMG in India, said 64 per cent of fraudsters in India are high performers compared with 38 per cent globally. “Their sense of superiority is stronger than their sense of fear or anger,” he added. Weak internal controls are a contributing factor to a significant chunk of the frauds. The conclusions are based on an analysis of 750 fraudsters who were involved in acts committed in 78 nations. Data were gathered from fraud investigations conducted by KPMG member firms’ forensic specialists in Europe, the Middle-East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific between March 2013 and August 2015.
Furthermore, the findings indicate that Indian fraudsters are younger in age than their global counterparts. A good 32 per cent of the perpetrators are in the 26-35 age group, compared with 14 per cent globally, the report said. As many as 59 per cent of the fraudsters in India are in the age group of 36-55 years, it noted. “The most-prevalent fraud surveyed globally is the misappropriation of assets (44 per cent). This mainly includes embezzlement and procurement fraud followed by fraudulent financial reporting (20 per cent),” the report, which was released Wednesday, said. Globally, 79 per cent of the fraudsters are men and the proportion of women has risen to 17 per cent, from 13 per cent in 2010.
